Today launched the month-long Festival of China at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather to wander over this morning and take a look around.
I'd actually gone to see what fun things were in the booths at the "street fair" that goes on this week only. It was a bit disappointing, since these were the only tents set up, and I'd expected a lot more, but they did have some fun works of art, calligraphy, sculpture, porcelainware, photographs, handicrafts, and various curios inside for sale. On the other side of the terrace was a "sidewalk cafe," with the table umbrellas decorated with Chinese kites. The food booths weren't open yet, but they were setting up tables with various Chinese dumplings and carts with Tsing Tao beer and Chinese plum wines.
Even though events were slated to begin today at 10 a.m., they were still busy setting up a lot of stuff. Below you can see workers still installing decorations on interior windows in the Hall of Nations. In the other picture, a banner over one of the building entrances announces the Festival.
While I was wandering through the inside of the Kennedy Center looking for some of the Chinese exhibits, I caught one of the Chinese acrobat troops rehearsing in the lobby of the Eisenhower Theater. Later, I saw them outside setting up a stage on the terrace, where they were going to be giving demonstrations after lunch.
A lot of photographs of China were on display in the various halls and lobbies of the center. Upstairs, I found an exhibit dedicated to the upcoming Olympics slated to be held in Beijing. Here is a picture of one of the models of the Olympic Village. Some of the buildings look intriguing, with a natatorium that looks like it will be constructed out of glass blocks and the stadium which is a mass of graceful crystal spires.
One of the most exciting things in the festival for me is the display from the terra cotta army of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, an archeological marvel which dates back to around 210 B.C., which is something I've discussed with my humanities students in the past. Only discovered in 1974, some 8,099 terra cotta warriors and their horses were created to guard the mausoleum of the emperor, and no two warriors are alike. The Chinese government was kind enough to bring two warriors and one horse to the United States for us to view. We could not, unfortunately, touch the statutes, as they were protected behind red silk cords tied into bars and decorative knots, but we could get within about ten feet of them. When they were originally made, they were all brightly painted, and at their first rediscovery, the colors were still present, but sunlight and exposure to air after they were unearthed caused the pigments to fade, so today we just see the terra cotta, almost weathered bronze, hue.
The festival continues throughout the month, and will feature all kinds of performing arts from China, including instrumental and vocal music, opera, dance, acrobatics, and the visual arts. There's a special fireworks display tonight which we may try to catch (the Watergate complex blocks our view of the Kennedy Center and the river, so we'll have to actually go over there to see it).
No comments:
Post a Comment